Longing Freedom with A Line and Riding Daisy

This week has been a good week so far for working with the horses. Tuesday I let Daisy have a break after working so hard on Monday :) So since she was off, I worked Freedom. I had always worked him either in hand or in the round pen. In the round pen I have joined up with him, done some basic longing, and basically given him an idea of what I want from him. So for a change of pace I decided to see how he longes on a line outside the round pen. His reaction was kind of funny. At first he was like, "WHAT is the big idea, what am I supposed to do?" but he soon figured it out that he was supposed to do pretty much the exact same thing as in the round pen, only this time without the round pen and with a line. I was really impressed with his response. He stopped, changed directions, sped up and slowed down just like he was supposed to. Sometimes he almost acts like he has been doing this for a long time. Quite pleased with him. Once I had longed him for a bit, I got him to stop and face me. Then I turned away and got him to come to me. He then followed me just like he always did in the round pen. :)

Wednesday I longed Freedom again. He did the exact same thing as Tuesday only he went right into the whole idea of longing without first wondering what he was supposed to be doing. :) I am just so amazed at how well he responds to all the new things I bring into his life. Guess I maybe shouldn't be but he just responds so well!! :)

After I had worked him, I got Daisy out and worked her in the snaffle, bareback. We just worked a bit on her responses. Stopping, starting, turning, pretty much just all basic things she knows already. I also got her to do some bending and a few things like that. Overall she did quite well.

Thursday I rode Daisy again. This time we went for a trail ride. I rode her bareback and in the snaffle. I don't know if I have really mentioned how well she has been doing! I mean I must say that in the last year that I have really been working her she has drastically improved her response to riding in the snaffle. I have ridden her in groups as big as 7 and as small as 3 and she has done so well. We went to the Project 70 on Monday and she responded as well, if not better, as she would have in a hackamore. I know I still have work to do and we have a ways to go but she definitely is closer to being where I want her to be than before!

Anyway back to yesterday's ride. She did really well overall. Then on the way back I asked her to stop at the one road she always like to throw a fit about standing totally still, she reacted the way I thought she would. Since I had time I decided to work her thru it. I asked her to stop and then stand. Once she thought we had stopped long enough for her liking she started to walk off. I asked her to stop, then backed her up. We did this for a little bit. I eventually got her to stop and stand for as long as I wanted. She can be a bit of a character at times but that is totally the reason I love her. She will show me all the areas I have been letting her get away with things and then when I do go to fix that area she generally makes me work to fix it ;) She has definitely helped me become the horsewoman I am now!